Method of scheduling calls in an ACD system

Description

Field of the Invention

[0001] The field of the invention relates to call distribution systems and more particularly to methods of scheduling calls.

Background of the Invention

[0002] Call centers are generally used by organizations to handle large numbers of calls with clients. An automatic call distributor (ACD) of the call center processes the calls with clients of the organization and distributes the calls to agents of the organization. An ACD usually handles inbound calls although a dialer may be associated with the ACD to allow the ACD to handle both inbound and outbound calls.

[0003] In a commercial context, a call center may be used by a merchant to receive calls from clients who wish to place orders, check on orders or register complaints. Alternatively and in the same context, a call center may be used by an organization to place outbound calls. In this context, a credit card company may generate a list of delinquent accounts with respective telephone numbers and cause the ACD to place calls to those numbers. As each number is dialed, the ACD may monitor the connection for pick-up by a person. When the ACD detects that a person has answered the call, the ACD may select an agent and connect the call to the selected agent.

[0004] In other, blended systems, inbound and outbound calls may be handled simultaneously. In this case, an appropriate number of agents may be assigned to handling inbound calls. Any remaining agents may be assigned to handling outbound calls. As call loading changes during any particular time period, the percentages of agents assigned to inbound and outbound calls may be adjusted. For example, the time that a client remains in a call waiting queue may be monitored. If the time exceeds a predetermined threshold, then the number of agents assigned to inbound and outbound calls may be adjusted. If the time in queue is too long then agents may be transferred from making outbound calls to receiving inbound calls. If the time in queue becomes relatively short then agents may be transferred from receiving inbound calls to making outbound calls.

[0005] While blended systems work relatively well, they also lack the flexibility to efficiently utilize agent time. Accordingly, a need exists for better methods of scheduling agent activity.

[0006] US 5621790 discloses a system and a method of generating outbound telephone contact campaigns optimized to contact the maximum number of targeted individuals during a campaign using a predictive dialer system, telephone operators with computer consoles and stored account records, where each account is associated with an individual with one or more telephone numbers and a history of attempts to contact the individual associated with each account.

[0007] US 5570419 discloses a system and method for controlling the call placement rates of a predictive dialer telephone system in which outbound calls are automatically placed in anticipation of telephone agents becoming available. The system allows a system supervisor to specify target values of agent utilization, customer hold time, and drop rate for the system. The system then paces outbound telephone calls to maintain the specified parameter as close as possible to the target value specified by the system supervisor.

Summary

[0008] An apparatus and method are provided for scheduling calls. The method includes the steps of providing a calling period with a plurality of sub-periods and determining a set of historical call completion ratios associated with the plurality of sub-periods. The method further includes the steps of exponentially scaling the respective determined call completion ratios and placing a number of calls during each sub-period of the calling period where the number of calls placed during each sub-period is based upon the respective exponentially scaled call completion ratio.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0009] 

FIG. 1 depicts a system for scheduling outbound calls in accordance with an illustrated embodiment of the invention.

Detail Description of an Illustrated Embodiment

[0010] FIG. 1 depicts a system 10 for scheduling calls between clients and agents of an organization as shown generally in accordance with an illustrated embodiment of the invention. Under a first illustrated embodiment, outbound calls are scheduled based upon the likelihood of completion of the call. Under a second illustrated embodiment, outbound calls are scheduled based upon an exponential scaling the likelihood of completion of the call. Under a third illustrated embodiment, outbound calls are scheduled based upon exponential scaling the likelihood of completion with the correct (right) party. The scheduling of outbound calls based upon the likelihood of completion allows for a significant improvement in the ability of an organization to schedule and more efficiently use its agents.

[0011] As used herein, a call involves a substantially real time exchange of information between a client and an agent of the organization. The call may be a switched circuit call placed through the PSTN 44 or a call placed through the Internet 46. For convenience, the description will focus primarily on a switched circuit call, but it should be understood that the concepts described herein also apply to Internet calls.

[0012] Past practice in the art of call centers has been based upon the theory that inbound calls should be preferentially handled and that any extra agents should be assigned to making outbound calls. However, this approach has been found to be inefficient due to the variable nature of call completion and is more reactive than proactive. For example, it has been found that call placed early in the morning have a higher completion ratio than calls placed after the start of the workday for most people. In addition, calls placed near mid-day have a higher completion ratio than calls placed early or later than mid-day.

[0013] The rate at which a call reaches the right party may also vary according to the time of day. While the right party completion ratio may track the overall completion ratio, the right party completion ratio can also depend upon the social situation of the call target. For example, a stay-at-home father or stay-at-home mother responsible for child care would have a higher call completion ratio in mid-morning after the children have gone to school than at mid-day when the care giver would more likely be running errands.

[0014] In order to increase the likelihood of call completion, the system 10 may collect statistics regarding call completion ratios for each of a number of different types of groups of call targets. The collected statistics may be collected based upon demographics as well as upon prior calls to a particular group of call targets. For example, if the call targets are a group of existing customers of the organization, then the organization may collect statistics about call completion ratios over a calling period (e.g., an 8-hour work shift, a 10 hour work shift, a 12 hour day, etc.). Under one illustrated embodiment, the system 10 divides the calling period into 10 sub-periods and determines a call completion ratio for each sub-period.

[0015] As the statistics of each group are collect, the statistics 14, 16 of each group type are stored in a database 12. Table A depicts the statistics of a particular group type.

Table A

PERIOD	NUMBER OF ATTEMPTS	NUMBER OF COMPLETIONS	COMPLETION PERCENT (CP)
1	192	28	14.5833333%
2	109	2	1.8348624%
3	266	48	18.0451128%
4	98	24	24.4897959%
5	202	33	16.3366337%
6	89	10	11.2359551%
7	125	2	1.6000000%
8	277	20	7.2202166%
9	89	14	15.7303371%
10	114	4	3.5087719%
	1561	185

[0016] As may be noted from Table A, the best time to place calls in order to make a connection to this group type is during periods 1, 3, 4, 5 and 9 because of the relatively high completion ratio. However, it would be beneficial to place more calls during period 4 than during period 3 or period 5. In order to place the appropriate combination of calls to maximize the effect of the higher relative completion ratios, the system 10 exponentially scales the highest call completion ratios of Table A. The exponentially scaled ratios may then be used with a list of calls to be made and the number of passes to be made through the list to arrive at the number of calls to be made during each sub-period of the calling period.

[0017] In general, the exponentially scaled ratios form a distribution of a sequence of non-negative values {a₁, a₂, ... a_n} such that

In general, any sequence of non-negative numbers {b₁, b₂, ... b_n} at least one of which is not zero can be converted into a distribution {a₁, a₂, ... a_n} by normalizing the values in the sequence. This may be performed via the equation

[0018] Suppose that {x₁, x₂, ... x_n} is a sequence of numbers (i.e., completion percentages (CPs)) and µ is a real number. The sequence of numbers can be converted into a distribution via the equation

[0019] The magnitude of exponential scaling is determined by adjusting a value of µ. The value of the exponential scaling may be controlled through use of a scaling softkey 18 located on an analyst station 24. The analyst may increase 20 the exponential scaling or decrease 22 the exponential scaling in real time and as appropriate to the needs of the organization. Under one illustrated embodiment of the invention, the value of µ may be adjusted to any value between -20 and +20.

[0020] By way of example, the value of µ may be set to 2, the list size may be 2000 and the number of passes is 3. The process of exponentially scaling the sub-periods with the highest relative completion ratios is shown in Table B. As shown, the sub-period number is shown in the left column and the completion percentage is shown in the second column from the left. As a first step, the completion percentage of the second column is scaled by the exponent µ (i.e., CPµ). As a second step the scaled completion values are summed to provide a scaled total (i.e., 0.184900 from the bottom of the third column). The values of the third column are then divided by the scaled total to provide a normalized, exponentially scaled value for each of the sub-periods (shown in the fourth column from the left).

Table B

PERIOD	COMPLETION PERCENT (CP)	CPµ	CPµ/0.184900
1	14.583333%	0.021267	0.115021
2	1.834862%	0.000337	0.001821
3	18.045113%	0.032563	0.176110
4	24.489796%	0.059975	0.324365
5	16.336634%	0.026689	0.144341
6	11.235955%	0.012625	0.068279
7	1.600000%	0.000256	0.001385
8	7.220217%	0.005213	0.028195
9	15.730337%	0.024744	0.133826
10	3.508772%	0.001231	0.006658
		0.184900	1.000000

[0021] As shown in Table B, if the values in column four are used to distribute the attempts throughout the day, the scaling by the exponential value µ has a relatively large effect upon the attempts in the respective sub-periods. For example, as shown in Table B, scaling by the exponential value µ causes 32.4365% of the calls to be placed in sub-period number 4. This has the disproportionate effect of placing the greatest number of outbound calls during the period when they are most likely to be completed.

[0022] Table C shows the effects of the above sample. For pass number 1 the initial value of the list is 2000 calls. The number of calls attempted (ATT.) in the sub-period 1 is 230 calls (2000 x 0.115021). Since the completion percent (CP) in the first sub-period is 14.583333% only 34 calls would be completed in the first sub-period.

[0023] It should be noted that at the end of the first pass, 365 calls have been completed. As such, the number of calls that would be attempted in the second pass would be 1635 (2000-365).

Table C

PERIOD	PASS 1		PASS 2		PASS 3		TOTAL
	ATT.	COM.	ATT.	COM.	ATT.	COM.	ATT.	COM.
LIST	2000		1635		1336
1	230	34	188	27	154	22	572	83
2	4	0	3	0	2	0	9	0
3	352	64	288	52	235	42	875	158
4	649	159	530	130	433	106	1612	395
5	289	47	236	39	193	32	718	117
6	137	15	112	13	91	10	339	38
7	3	0	2	0	2	0	7	0
8	56	4	46	3	38	3	140	10
9	268	42	219	34	179	28	665	105
10	13	0	11	0	9	0	33	1
	2000	365	1635	299	1336	244	4971	908

[0024] As a further example, it may be assumed that the right party completion rate for sub-period 1 is 57.142857%, for sub-period 2 is 50.000000%, for sub-period 3 is 68.750000%, for sub-period 4 is 75.000000%, for sub-period 5 is 48.484848%, for sub-period 6 is 50.000000%, for sub-period 7 is 100.000000%, for sub-period 8 is 70.000000%, for sub-period 9 is 7.142857% and for sub-period 10 is 50.000000%. The right party completion rate for each sub-period is multiplied by the respective CP value of each sub-period to provide a new overall completion rate for each sub-period in the second column of Table B, a new scaled value for each sub-period in the third column and a new normalized scaled value for each sub-period in the fourth column. Using a value of µ of 2, a list of 2000 and 3 passes, the outgoing calls may be adjusted as shown in Table D

Table D

PERIOD	PASS 1		PASS 2		PASS 3		TOTAL
	ATT.	COM.	ATT.	COM.	ATT.	ATT.	COM.	ATT.
LIST	2000		1603		1285
1	202	29	162	24	130	19	493	72
2	2	0	2	0	2	0	6	0
3	447	81	359	65	287	52	1093	197
4	980	240	786	192	630	154	2396	587
5	182	30	146	24	117	19	446	73
6	92	10	74	8	59	7	224	25
7	7	0	6	0	5	0	18	0
8	74	5	60	4	48	3	181	13
9	4	1	3	0	2	0	9	1
10	9	0	7	0	6	0	22	1
	2000	397	1603	318	1285	255	4889	970

[0025] Turning now to the system 10 in general, upon initializing the system 10, the analyst may enter an initial estimated call completion percentage for each sub-period of each outbound call campaign. The initial estimated call completion percentage may be based upon one or more group types to which the call campaign is directed or simply an overall estimate that will be corrected by subsequently collected statistics.

[0026] The analyst may also provide or identify a list 30 of telephone numbers or other identifiers for each outbound call campaign and a number of passes for each campaign. The list 30 may simply be a list of telephone numbers or URLs and names of call targets purchased from an outside source or may be a list of existing clients of the organization.

[0027] The analyst may also enter one or more values of µ. A different value for µ may be provided for each campaign based upon other factors (e.g., the relative importance of the call campaign, call center loading, number of available agents, etc.).

[0028] Upon completion of the entry of initial values, the terminal 24 of the analyst may transfer the list(s) 30 through the host 32 to a telephone dialer 26 within the ACD 34. The terminal 24 may also transfer the initial estimated completion percentages, the number of passes, the values of µ and identifiers of the lists 30 to a scaling processor 28 either within the ACD 34 or host 32.

[0029] In response, the scaling processor 28 may calculate an exponential scaling ratio or factor for each sub-period. In this case, the exponential scaling ratio is the fraction of the respective list 30 that will be dialed during any one pass and sub-period.

[0030] The calculated exponential scheduling ratio is transferred to a scheduling processor 27. Within the scheduling processor 27, the ratio is multiplied by the appropriate list to determine the appropriate number of calls to schedule for each sub-period and the number of agents that must be scheduled to work during those sub-periods. At the appropriate time, the scheduled number of calls for each sub-period is then transferred to the dialer 26.

[0031] Upon receipt of the number of calls for each sub-period, the dialer 26 may begin placing calls through the PSTN 44 or Internet 46 to clients 36, 38. As each call is placed, the dialer 26 sends an outgoing call notification to a statistics processor 28 along with an identifier of the call. Upon placing the call, the dialer 26 may continue to monitor the call connection or pass the monitoring function off to another monitoring device.

[0032] In either case, the monitoring device monitors the call connection for completion of the call. If a person answers the call, the monitoring device passes the call off to an assignment processor and sends a call complete message to the statistics processor 28 along with the identifier of the call.

[0033] The assignment processor receives the call and selects an agent 40, 42 to handle the call. Agent selection may be based upon any criteria (e.g., longest available, most skilled, etc.).

[0034] Once an agent has been selected, the assignment processor may send an instruction to the ACD 34 to connect the call with the client 36, 38 to a telephone 48, 50 of the selected agent 40,42. The assignment processor may also send a call set up message to the host 32 identifying the call and the agent 40, 42 to which the call was assigned.

[0035] In response, the host 32 may identify the call as being part of a outbound call campaign via the call identifier transferred to the host 32 within the call set up message. Upon identifying the call campaign associated with the call, the host 32 may retrieve an identifier of a call target associated with the telephone number and customer records (if any) associated with the call target. The host 32 may transfer the identifier of the call target to a terminal 52, 54 of the selected agent 40,42 for display on the terminal 52, 54 as a screen pop at the same instant that the call is delivered to the selected agent 40, 42.

[0036] The agent 40, 42 may receive the call and begin conversing with the person answering the call. As a first step, the selected agent 40, 42 may inquire if he/she is speaking to the call target. If not, then the agent 40, 42 may apologize and hang up. At the same time, the agent 40, 42 may activate a softkey on his/her terminal indicating the reason for terminating the call. In this case, the selected agent 40, 42 may activate a WRONG PARTY softkey to indicate that the right party was not contacted. In response, the terminal 52, 54 may send a termination message to the statistics processor 28 along with the call identifier indicating that the right party was not contacted.

[0037] In response to the messages, the statistics processor 28 processes and determines completion percentages for each group type. The statistics determined include a completion percentage based upon the number of outbound calls answered by group type and the percentage of right party connections.

[0038] In order to further ameliorate short term effects, the analyst working through the analyst terminal 24 may have the ability to average a current set of call completion ratios with historical values (e.g., call completion percent, right party completion percent, dollars per call, etc.). In this regard, the analyst may provide some percentage value 20-80% to weight the current call completion ratio against the historical values. For example, if the analyst were to give a set of current completion ratios a 20% weighting then the statistics processor may multiply current completion ratios by 20% and the historical values by 80% and add the results to provide an overall weighted completion ratio.

[0039] It should be noted that the statistics processor 28 may provide a set of statistics in any of a number of different formats. Under one format, the statistics processor 28 may collect call completion statistics where each day of the week defines a calling period and in which sub-periods may be defined in hours of portions of an hour.

[0040] Statistics may also be defined based upon the time of the year. For example, a merchant may want to provide a set of calling periods for the week before Christmas and a different set for the week after Christmas. The definition of call completion statistics may be defined in terms of anyone answering the call and the right party answering the call.

[0041] It should be noted that any particular call campaign may include one or more group types. Moreover, call campaigns may be developed based upon the commercial advantages associated with any particular group type. As such, call completion percentages and right party connection percentages may be determined for any new campaign based upon a prior history with the same group type(s).

[0042] It should also be noted that the method described above for scheduling outbound calls may be used in any of a number of different calling environments, including both blended and unblended. For example, outbound calling campaigns that have a predetermined profile of call completion percentages over a sequence of sub-periods may be combined with other call types with complementary call completion profiles. For example, an outgoing call campaign to young mothers may be targeted to a time period between 8 and 9 am. The time period of from 8 to 9 am may be a period when a minimum of incoming calls are received and would allow a large number of agents that would otherwise be idle to be concentrated on the outgoing call campaign.

[0043] Alternatively, a first outgoing call campaign may be combined with a second outgoing call campaign with a complementary completion profile. For example, the first call campaign may be targeted to work-at-home adults that are mostly at home between 10 am and 2 pm during the day while the second campaign may be targeted to work-away-from-home adults who are only at home in the early to late morning or in the early evening.

[0044] A specific embodiment of method and apparatus for scheduling outbound calls has been described for the purpose of illustrating the manner in which the invention is made and used. It should be understood that the implementation of other variations and modifications of the invention and its various aspects will be apparent to one skilled in the art, and that the invention is not limited by the specific embodiments described. Therefore, it is contemplated to cover the present invention and any and all modifications, variations, or equivalents that fall within the scope of the basic underlying principles disclosed and claimed herein.

Claims

1. A method of scheduling calls comprising:

a) providing a calling period divided into a plurality of sub-periods, each sub-period for permitting making a plurality of calls;

b) determining a historical group call completion ratio associated with each of the plurality of sub-periods using prior call history for a group of a plurality of call targets of a selected type; characterised by

c) exponentially scaling each respective determined call completion ratio using a selected exponent; and

d) placing a plural number of calls during each respective sub-period of the calling period where the number of calls placed during at least some of the sub-periods is determined using the respective exponentially scaled call completion ratio.

2. The method as in claim 1 further comprising normalizing a sum of the exponentially scaled call completion ratios to a value of 1.0 to generate a normalized completion ratio for each respective sub-period and multiplying a total number of planned calls by the normalized completion ratio for each respective sub-period to obtain a respective number of calls to be made for each respective call sub-period.

3. The method as in claim 1 further comprising providing an adjustable exponent as the selected exponent for exponentially scaling the determined call completion ratios.

4. The method as in claim 3 further comprising an analyst changing the adjustable exponent to match an outgoing call volume with an agent (40, 42) availability in real-time.

5. The method as in claim 1 further comprising determining a list (30) size for outbound calls to be completed during the calling period and determining how many calls to make during each respective sub-period using the respective exponentially scaled call completion ratio and the list (30) size.

6. The method as in claim 5 further comprising determining a number of passes to complete the determined list (30) during the calling period and utilizing the number of passes to determine how many calls to make during each respective sub-period.

7. The method as in claim 1 wherein the determined set of historical call completion ratios further comprise calls answered.

8. The method as in claim 7 wherein the determined set of historical call completion ratios further comprise calls answered by the correct party.

9. The method as in claim 1 wherein the determined call completion ratios further comprise a combination of current call completion ratios and historical call completion ratios.

10. The method as in claim 1 wherein the determined call completion ratios further comprise collecting call completion ratios collected for a plurality of different call types.

11. An apparatus (10) for scheduling calls wherein a calling period corresponding to a work shift period is divided into a plurality of of sub-periods for making a plurality of calls, comprising:

means (24) for determining a respective historical group call completion ratio, for a group of a plurality of call targets, associated with each

respective sub-period of the plurality of sub-periods; characterised by

means (28) for exponentially scaling each respective determined call completion ratio by a selected exponent; and

means (26) for placing a plural number of calls during each respective sub-period of the calling period where the number of calls placed during at least some of the sub-periods is determined using the respective exponentially scaled call completion ratio.

12. The apparatus (10) as in claim 11 further comprising means for normalizing a sum of the exponentially scaled call completion ratios to a value of 1.0.

13. The apparatus (10) as in claim 11 further comprising means for providing an adjustable exponent for exponentially scaling the determined call completion ratios.

14. The apparatus (10) as in claim 13 further comprising means for changing the adjustable exponent to match an outgoing call volume with an agent (40, 42) availability.

15. The apparatus (10) as in claim 11 further comprising means for determining a list (30) size for outbound calls to be completed during the calling period, and means for determining how many calls to make during each respective sub-period using the respective exponentially scaled call competition ratio, and the list.

16. The apparatus (10) as in claim 15 further comprising means for determining a number of passes to complete the determined list during the calling period and means for utilizing the number of passes to determine how many calls to make during each respective sub-period.

17. The apparatus (10) as in claim 11 wherein the determined set of historical call completion ratios further comprise calls answered.

18. The apparatus (10) as in claim 17 wherein the determined set of historical call completion ratios further comprise calls answered by the correct party.

19. The apparatus (10) as in claim 11 wherein each of the determined call completion ratios further comprise a combination of current call completion ratios and historical call completion ratios.

20. The apparatus (10) as in claim 11 wherein the determined call completion ratios further comprise collecting call completion ratios collected for a plurality of different call types.

Ansprüche

1. Ein Verfahren zur Terminplanung von Anrufen, das Folgendes umfasst:

a) Bereitstellung einer Anrufsperiode, die in eine Vielzahl von Teilperioden unterteilt ist, wobei jede Teilperiode dazu dient, die Durchführung einer Vielzahl von Anrufen zu ermöglichen;

b) Bestimmung einer Verlaufs-Gruppenanrufs-Ausführungsrate im Zusammenhang mit jeder der Vielzahl von Teilperioden unter Verwendung des Verlaufs vorheriger Anrufe für eine Gruppe einer Vielzahl von Anrufszielen eines ausgewählten Typs; gekennzeichnet durch

c) exponentielle Skalierung jeder entsprechenden bestimmten Anrufs-Ausführungsrate unter Verwendung eines ausgewählten Exponenten; und

d) Tätigen mehrerer Anrufe während jeder entsprechenden Teilperiode der Anrufsperiode, worin die Anzahl von Anrufen, die während mindestens einigen der Teilperioden getätigt werden, mit Hilfe der entsprechenden exponentiell skalierten Anrufs-Ausführungsrate bestimmt wird.

2. Das Verfahren gemäß Anspruch 1, das weiter die Normalisierung einer Summe der exponentiell skalierten Anrufs-Ausführungsraten auf einen Wert von 1,0 umfasst, zur Erzeugung einer normalisierten Ausführungsrate für jede entsprechende Teilperiode, und die Multiplikation einer Gesamtzahl geplanter Anrufe mit der normalisierten Ausführungsrate für jede entsprechende Teilperiode, um eine entsprechende Anzahl von Anrufen zu erhalten, die für jede entsprechende Anrufs-Teilperiode durchzuführen sind.

3. Das Verfahren gemäß Anspruch 1, das weiter die Bereitstellung eines anpassbaren Exponenten als des ausgewählten Exponenten für die exponentielle Skalierung der bestimmten Anrufs-Ausführungsraten umfasst.

4. Das Verfahren gemäß Anspruch 3, das weiter die Änderung des anpassbaren Exponenten durch einen Analysator, um ein Volumen abgehender Gespräche der Verfügbarkeit eines Agenten (40, 42) in Echtzeit anzupassen, umfasst.

5. Das Verfahren gemäß Anspruch 1, das weiter Folgendes umfasst: Bestimmung der Größe einer Liste (30) für abgehende Anrufe, zu vervollständigen während der Anrufsperiode, und Bestimmung, wie viele Anrufe während jeder entsprechenden Teilperiode vorzunehmen sind, unter Verwendung der jeweiligen exponentiell skalierten Anrufs-Ausführungsrate und der Größe der Liste (30).

6. Das Verfahren gemäß Anspruch 5, das weiter Folgendes umfasst: die Bestimmung einer Anzahl von Durchläufen, um die bestimmte Liste (30) während der Anrufsperiode zu vervollständigen, und die Nutzung der Anzahl von Durchläufen, um zu bestimmen, wie viele Anrufe während jeder entsprechenden Teilperiode durchzuführen sind.

7. Das Verfahren gemäß Anspruch 1, worin der bestimmte Satz von Verlaufs-Anrufs-Ausführungsraten weiter angenommene Anrufe umfasst.

8. Das Verfahren gemäß Anspruch 7, worin der bestimmte Satz von Verlaufs-Anrufs-Ausführungsraten weiter Anrufe umfasst, die von der korrekten Partei angenommen werden.

9. Das Verfahren gemäß Anspruch 1, worin die bestimmten Anrufs-Ausführungsraten weiter eine Kombination aus aktuellen Anrufs-Ausführungsraten und Verlaufs-Anrufs-Ausführungsraten umfassen.

10. Das Verfahren gemäß Anspruch 1, worin die bestimmten Anrufs-Ausführungsraten weiter die Erfassung von Anrufs-Ausführungsraten umfassen, die für eine Vielzahl verschiedener Anrufarten erfasst werden.

11. Eine Vorrichtung (10) zur Terminplanung von Anrufen, wobei eine Anrufperiode, die einer Arbeitsschichtperiode entspricht, zur Durchführung einer Vielzahl von Anrufen in eine Vielzahl von Teilperioden unterteilt wird, Folgendes umfassend:

Mittel (24) für die Bestimmung einer entsprechenden Verlaufs-Gruppenanrufs-Ausführungsrate, für eine Gruppe einer Vielzahl von Anrufszielen, verknüpft mit jeder entsprechenden Teilperiode der Vielzahl von Teilperioden; gekennzeichnet durch

Mittel (28) zur exponentiellen Skalierung jeder entsprechenden bestimmten Anrufs-Ausführungsrate mit einem ausgewählten Exponenten; und

Mittel (26) zum Tätigen mehrerer Anrufe während jeder entsprechenden Teilperiode der Anrufsperiode, wobei die Anzahl von Anrufen, die während zumindest einigen der Teilperioden getätigt werden, unter Verwendung der jeweiligen exponentiell skalierten Anrufs-Ausführungsrate bestimmt wird.

12. Die Vorrichtung (10) gemäß Anspruch 11, die weiter Mittel zur Normalisierung einer Summe der exponentiell skalierten Anrufs-Ausführungsraten auf einen Wert von 1,0 umfasst.

13. Die Vorrichtung (10) gemäß Anspruch 11, die weiter Mittel zur Bereitstellung eines anpassbaren Exponenten für die exponentielle Skalierung der bestimmten Anrufs-Ausführungsraten umfasst.

14. Die Vorrichtung (10) gemäß Anspruch 13, die weiter Mittel umfasst, um den anpassbaren Exponenten so zu verändern, dass ein Volumen abgehender Anrufe an die Verfügbarkeit eines Agenten (40, 42) angepasst wird.

15. Die Vorrichtung (10) gemäß Anspruch 11, die weiter Mittel umfasst, um die Größe einer Liste (30) für ausgehende Anrufe zu bestimmen, die während der Anrufperiode abzuschließen sind, und Mittel zur Bestimmung, wie viele Anrufe während jeder entsprechenden Teilperiode durchzuführen sind, unter Verwendung der entsprechenden exponentiell skalierten Anrufs-Ausführungsrate, und der Liste.

16. Die Vorrichtung (10) gemäß Anspruch 15, die weiter Mittel umfasst, um eine Anzahl von Durchläufen zu bestimmen, um die bestimmte Liste während der Anrufperiode abzuschließen, und Mittel zur Nutzung der Anzahl von Durchläufen, um zu bestimmen, wie viele Anrufe während jeder entsprechenden Teilperiode durchzuführen sind.

17. Die Vorrichtung (10) gemäß Anspruch 11, wobei der bestimmte Satz von Verlaufs-Anrufs-Ausführungsraten weiter angenommene Anrufe umfasst.

18. Die Vorrichtung (10) gemäß Anspruch 17, wobei der bestimmte Satz von Verlaufs-Anrufs-Ausführungsraten weiter von der korrekten Partei angenommene Anrufe umfasst.

19. Die Vorrichtung (10) gemäß Anspruch 11, wobei jede der bestimmten Anrufs-Ausführungsraten weiter eine Kombination aus aktuellen Anrufs-Ausführungsraten und Verlaufs-Anrufs-Ausführungsraten umfasst.

20. Die Vorrichtung (10) gemäß Anspruch 11, wobei die bestimmten Anrufs-Ausführungsräten weiter die Erfassung von Anrufs-Ausführungsraten umfassen, die für eine Vielzahl verschiedener Anrufarten erfasst werden.

Revendications

1. Méthode pour programmer des appels comprenant:

a) prévoir une période d'appel divisée en une pluralité de sous-périodes, chaque sous-période pour permettre d'effectuer une pluralité d'appels;

b) déterminer un taux d'aboutissement d'appel de groupe historique associé avec chacune des pluralités de sous-périodes en utilisant une histoire d'appel antérieur pour un groupe d'une pluralité de cibles d'appel d'un type sélectionné; caractérisé par

c) mesurer exponentiellement chaque taux d'aboutissement d'appel déterminé respectif en utilisant un exposant sélectionné; et

d) placer un nombre pluriel d'appels durant chaque sous-période respective de la période d'appel où le nombre d'appels placés durant au moins quelques-unes des sous-périodes est déterminé en utilisant le taux d'aboutisseraent d'appel mesuré exponentiellement.

2. Méthode comme en revendication 1 comprenant en outre la normalisation d'une somme des taux d'aboutissement d'appels mesuré exponentiellement à une valeur de 1,0 pour générer un taux d'aboutissement normalisé pour chaque sous-période respective et multiplier un nombre total d'appels planifiés par le taux d'aboutissement normalisé pour chaque sous-période respective pour obtenir un nombre d'appels respectif à effectuer pour chaque sous-période d'appel respective.

3. Méthode comme en revendication 1 comprenant en outre de prévoir un exposant réglable comme l'exposant sélectionné pour mesurer exponentiellement les taux d'aboutissement d'appel déterminés.

4. Méthode comme en revendication 3 comprenant en outre un analyste changeant l'exposant réglable pour égaler un volume d'appel sortant avec une disponibilité d'agent (40, 42) en temps réel.

5. Méthode comme en revendication 1 comprenant en outre de déterminer une taille de liste (30) pour des appels sortants à compléter durant la période d'appel et de déterminer combien d'appels effectuer durant chaque sous-période respective en utilisant le taux d'aboutissement d'appel mesuré exponentiellement respectif et la taille de liste (30).

6. Méthode comme en revendication 5 comprenant en outre de déterminer un nombre de passes pour compléter la liste (30) déterminée durant la période d'appel et d'utiliser le nombre de passes pour déterminer combien d'appels effectuer durant chaque sous-période respective.

7. Méthode comme en revendication 1 dans laquelle le set déterminé de taux d'aboutissement d'appel historique comprend en outre des appels reçus.

8. Méthode comme en revendication 7 dans laquelle le set déterminé de taux d'aboutissement d'appel historique comprend en outre des appels reçus par la partie correcte.

9. Méthode comme en revendication 1 dans laquelle les taux d'aboutissement d'appel déterminés comprennent en outre une combinaison de taux d'aboutissement d'appel courant et des taux d'aboutissement d'appel historique.

10. Méthode comme en revendication 1 dans laquelle les taux d'aboutissement d'appel déterminés comprennent en outre de collecter des taux d'aboutissement d'appel collectés pour une pluralité de types d'appel différents.

11. Appareil (10) pour programmer des appels dans lequel une période d'appel correspondant à une période de travail est divisée en une pluralité de sous-périodes pour effectuer une pluralité d'appels, comprenant:

des moyens (24) pour déterminer un taux d'aboutissement d'appel de groupe historique respectif, pour un groupe d'une pluralité de cibles d'appel, associé avec chaque sous-période respective de la pluralité de sous-périodes; caractérisé par

des moyens (28) pour mesurer exponentiellement chaque taux d'aboutissement d'appel déterminé respectif par un exposant sélectionné; et

des moyens (26) pour placer un nombre pluriel d'appels durant chaque sous-période respective de la période d'appel où le nombre d'appels placés durant au moins quelques-unes des sous-périodes est déterminé en utilisant le taux d'aboutissement d'appel mesuré exponentiellement.

12. Appareil (10) comme en revendication 11 comprenant en outre des moyens pour normaliser une somme des taux d'aboutissement d'appel mesurés exponentiellement à une valeur de 1,0.

13. Appareil (10) comme en revendication 11 comprenant en outre des moyens pour prévoir un exposant réglable pour mesurer exponentiellement les taux d'aboutissement d'appel déterminés.

14. Appareil (10) comme en revendication 13 comprenant en outre des moyens pour changer l'exposant réglable pour égaler un volume d'appel sortant avec une disponibilité d'agent (40, 42),

15. Appareil (10) comme en revendication 11 comprenant en outre des moyens pour déterminer une taille de liste (30) pour des appels sortants à compléter durant la période d'appel, et des moyens pour déterminer combien d'appels effectuer durant chaque sous-période respective en utilisant le taux d'aboutissement d'appel mesuré exponentiellement respectif, et la liste.

16. Appareil (10) comme en revendication 15 comprenant en outre des moyens pour déterminer un nombre de passes pour compléter la liste déterminée durant la période d'appel et des moyens pour utiliser le nombre de passes pour déterminer combien d'appels effectuer durant chaque sous-période respective.

17. Appareil (10) comme en revendication 11 dans lequel le set déterminé de taux d'aboutissement d'appel historique comprend en outre des appels reçus.

18. Appareil (10) comme en revendication 17 dans lequel le set déterminé de taux d'aboutissement d'appel historique comprend en outre des appels reçus par la partie correcte.

19. Appareil (10) comme en revendication 11 dans lequel chacun des taux d'aboutissement d'appel déterminés comprend en outre une combinaison de taux d'aboutissement d'appel courant et de taux d'aboutissement d'appel historique.

20. Appareil (10) comme en revendication 11 dans lequel les taux d'aboutissement d'appel déterminés comprennent en outre de collecter des taux d'aboutissement d'appel collectés pour une pluralité de types d'appel différents.

Drawing